To sell is human

I have not done described a book I have been reading for a while but I have been reading a book called "To sell is human" by Daniel Pink, and I wanted to share some thoughts of it.  I love this author as what he writes is interesting and he makes it so easy to understand.  This book is about how every single person is involved in selling each and every day.  He defines selling as trying to get someone to do something that will benefit you.

When most people think of sells and sales people they think of a car sales man, a door to door sells man, or perhaps those annoying Mormon missionaries.  They don't realize that each day we each try to get others to do things.  This is selling.  You may try to convince an investment group to invest in your company, you may try to get a child to learn his ABC's, or you might just ask a sibling to do a chore.

These tasks that many do frequently is in fact selling.  Let's walk through a sales pitch.  It may go something like this:

Salesman: "Hello, my name is ---.  I am going around this neighborhood to see if you would be interested in purchasing this magnificent brush that will reduce the time you spend scrubbing."

Homeowner: "No thanks.  I am not looking for a brush."

Salesman: "Well sir, I have other products that may interest you..."

I could go on, but I want to highlight something important.  The salesperson wanted to do something: he wanted to convince a person to part with something, in this case money, for a product.  He wanted to get the homeowner on his side and convince him to buy a brush or other things from him.

Now, a teacher may not be trying to sell a brush to a student but she might be trying to make learning the ABC's interesting.  She must convince students to part with something, in this case time, in order to learn their letters.  She, in affect, is trying to sell the student on the idea that learning in fun and interesting.

Pink describes in his book how most people view salespeople as annoying, pushy and sometimes mean these words don't necessarily describe sales people today.  People have stereotyped salespeople and now things have changed.

I have not finished the book yet but I would highly recommend it to anyone.  A great way to learn how to move others to get them to do what you want.